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Why the Cubs signed Justin Turner · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahad Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. Were your
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, you are
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: back in cold Chicago. I've traded places with you. I'm
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: in the same hotel, not the same hotel that there's
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a chance.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Out in Arizona, I have not.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I literally landed just an hour ago, so I did
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: not get to camp today. But we have some you know,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: some updates and some news. I guess we haven't recorded
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: since Justin Turner officially signed. So Justin Turner is a Cub.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: We we had heard some rumblings that this could happen,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: and it is now official. I believe he met with
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: the media today. And this is a like Council you
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: talked to Council well yesterday the day before about it,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: and some people in the clubhouse, and it basically sounds
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: like the message coming from the clubhouse is another winner,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: another veteran added to this group.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: And that's you know, can't have enough of that.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt, I think a nice you know, he's
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: obviously not Alex Bregman and he probably won't play much
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: third base right at all. But I think players particularly
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: like this group of Cubs players, as you know, Sahadev are,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: the group is like follows baseball. And I don't mean
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: that to like sound like stupid, but like there are
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: certain players who really like study the game and study
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: their competitors and like follow how certain players got to
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: that point. And that is the way Cubs players talked
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: about Justin Turner, like this is a guy who was
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: a kind of an early adapter to launch angle and
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: he had been claimed off waivers, he had been non tendered,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Like he really didn't experience those huge that huge burst
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: of success until kind of late twenties through his thirties,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Like it took a while for him to get to
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: that point. And then obviously anyone who's watched the playoffs
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: over like basically a decade, uh, you know, saw him
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: with the Dodgers and come up in some huge moments.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: I think is like postseason ops and his career ops
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: are almost identical. I want to say, like eight twenty eight,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: thirty something like that. And you know, to guys like
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: you know, Ian Hap, Dansby Swanson, Nico Horner, like it's
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: not just the Matt Shaw's or the young kids they
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: have coming. Like have was talking about, like this guy
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: can help all of us and Dan's we basically said
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: the same thing of like, Okay, how do you slow
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: the game down? What are you looking for? How do
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: you stay in great shape to allow yourself to play
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: past your your fortieth birthday? So a ton of intangibles,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: but oh, the guy played really well last year and
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: the year before that he was even better. And I
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: mean you can kind of speak to this like Cubs
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: bench was rather unimpressive for the last couple of years.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: And I think you can see Greig Council like kind
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: of pressing this button in a lot of like key
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: moments this year.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Right, I mean that's kind of council strength, right, using
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: his full roster, knowing when to use them, how to
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: use them, when to get guys rest.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: This is like what you said about his playoff career.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at it now, like I think people need
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: to understand this, like if you have better, he has
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: better numbers for his UH playoff career than he does
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: for his overall career. By way to run his creat
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: a plus one twenty eight to one twenty six. Those
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: are either way like career wise that those are awesome
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: numbers in eighty six games.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: I think, what did they just see.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: More than like more than half the season.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like that's remember like people need to remember. When
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: you're in the playoffs, you're facing the best of the best.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Like numbers almost always go down. You're facing the best
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: pitchers in baseball. More often than not, you don't face
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: there's no underbelly of a bullpen because coaches like managers
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: don't do that. They don't put their bad relievers out
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: there in any playoff games unless you're getting your butt
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: kicked or.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Something like that.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: He's he's beating up on good pitching. That means in
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, that's that's pretty impressive. I don't I don't
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: think I fully realized that. Uh that that has to bring.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: A little you know, gravitas to the clubhouse.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: They're gonna like and and when you talk about the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: weakness of the bench, Look, there were some decent players
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: like on that bench, they just didn't perform last year.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: This is a trusted veteran that you're going to be
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: filling in, like Michael Bush. There's a tough lefty Okay,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Justin Turner is out there. Also, by the wait, Justin
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Turner doesn't have like bad splits like he can hit lefties,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: he can hit righties, but he's likely gonna get a
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: lot of playing time against lefties. Ian Hap maybe if
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: if it's a tough lefty and and the uh and
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: he doesn't want uh Ian Hap out there, maybe he
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: uh maybe say it plays in left field and and
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Turner d h's uh. We're gonna see a lot of
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: mixing and matching, I think, And and it just makes
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the lineup better in a sense, like the playing matchups better,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: and and it just like.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: You're a deeper team. Uh.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: If there's an injury to a corner outfielder, if there's
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: an injury to Michael Bush, you're safe.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: My guess is it.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: And you could probably speak to this better than I can,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: having been down here and and maybe talk to some people.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: But when it comes to third base, my guess is
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: that's like if someone if Shaw gets hurt in the
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: middle of a game, and then in all likelihood it
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: would be like they almost immediately call up a third basement.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: I can't imagine.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: He's he's star like ten games in a row if
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Seaw gets hurt, you know.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I think he could stand over there. They did not
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: sign him to be a third baseman, was kind of
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: the way it was put to me. I haven't asked
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: him was specifically about this, but I would guess too,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Like it's kind of the reverse hobby like in twenty fifteen,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: where they'd put him wherever the ball was hit, Like
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: comes have some fly ball pitchers, and maybe if you
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: think the ball's not going to get hit over there
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: that much, he could stand at third base and like
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: make the plays like if needed. But yeah, like that
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: was kind of the thing as we were first hearing
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: about this. A like third base and it's kind of
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: like eye he's played there, but also like his his effectiveness,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Like if you want to get the best version of
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: this player for however x number of at bats, Like
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I don't think playing third base every day is like
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: conducive to that.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thirty three innings at third last year, fifty seven
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: and twenty three the last time he had a lot
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: of time. They're five hundred and seventy four innings in
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. So it's just I mean, he's he's older.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: It's just not something he's gonna be doing very often
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: unless it's an emergency situation. That's not why they got him.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: He can hit any and they needed someone to back
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: up Bush. In all reality, Bertie's like Bertie's the backup
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: third basement. Like I don't know, like we don't need
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: to overthink that. You know that that's I.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Think you can totally see, though I can't. You like
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: envision the you know, Turner coming up to bad and
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: really field and forty thousand people on their feet and
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: you know, having coming through with that clutch hit right,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: you know, the walk off and everyone starts, you know,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: storming the field. And I think too, as you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: our resident weather conspiracy theory, you know, like too, maybe
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: his his style, his consistency, his ability to produce in
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: high leverage moments like maybe that we don't know how
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: he's gonna play this year, but I do feel like
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: if it comes up to small ball a little bit
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: or you know, manufacture runs in low scoring games, like
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: this is a guy you want, like in your hitting room,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: in the dugout, in the batter's box.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: So before we move on, like you talked about how
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: he's like one of the early adopters at the launch
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: angle era. Well, the thing that stands out about him
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: though from that is like a lot of these launch
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: angle guys, high strikeout rate. He's never had a twenty
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: percent strikeout rate. His highest was twenty fourteen at eighteen percent,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: and it's like consistently like you know, below eighteen percent. Jeesus.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: He had a ten percent, ten point three percent strike
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: out rate in twenty seventeen. I'm probably his best. Yeah,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: that is his best season. I mean just to rarely
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: quality at bat and it's you know, yeah, he's forty.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: He's not going to perform in that twenty seventeen twenty
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: eighteen level, but he's he's a quality I like this
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: addition a lot when you're talking about filling out the bench,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and it just like insurance even if he has to
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: start like for two months because there's an injury, Like,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's a that that's like this huge
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: drop off suddenly where you it's quality, winning veteran that
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: can produce. I like I like the move a lot
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: to add him. They dfa Alexander Canario. We never really
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: got to see much of Alexander Canario. He never got
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: like consistent playing time, decent decent numbers with the Cubs
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: overall power bat obviously acquired in the Chris Bryant trade.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I think probably what really hurt Canario was that injury
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: before that was it before the twenty three or was
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: it before.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: The twenty twenty three?
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Right, and he he had like a good like it
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: was like two significant injuries at once, right.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Right, it was like with the ankle and shoulder.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: I think, yeah that I think that changed a lot.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Like I think either he would have gotten more playing
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: time or he would have been part of a pretty
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: pretty big trade like that. That was like he it
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: kind of changed like the direction of his career. We'll
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: see where it goes.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: My assumption is they'll try and trade him over the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: next few days. Otherwise someone will pick him up. He's
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: going to like he might he'd fit like a Miami right,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: like a team like a Colorado, a team that's just
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: not like competing that may have some some space for
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: him to either DH or play a corner outfield spot
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: or even if they want to play him in center field.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I think the I guess what I would say is
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: when people say, like why would the Cubs do this
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Why are the Cubs giving up on him? One thing
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: is he doesn't have options, right Like I saw some
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: people talking about, like why why are they keeping the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: doll Bruhan Like that's one thing about that is like
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: council and this was true about David Ross too.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: They they want players that can play defense.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: If he's not like a lock to hit, like this guy,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: you don't know what you're getting offensively, so that makes
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: it like, okay, all you're getting is potential on offense.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: He's like, he's not a very good defensive player right now.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Maybe he gets better, maybe maybe he'll prove everyone wrong.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: And he's and he's perfectly fine in a corner they need,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: they need Council plays defense, right Like, It's kind of
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: like what we talked about with Pete ko Armstrong, Like
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: even if he doesn't hit, he's playing like he's gonna
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: he's gonna play like he's he's an elite defender there.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: They're just players like that that he's gonna put out
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: there and say, like, I know what I'm getting playing
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: him every days. He's always you know, being around him
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: one year, it made it very clear that you know,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: that's what he's looking for first and foremost from a
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: young player, can you play defense, Okay, I'm gonna play you,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: and then if you hit, great bonus. Obviously you need
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: offense and you need guys that can hit. Canario just
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: didn't have a spot here. And like there's other outfielders too,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: like o Contra and Casey are on the forty man.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I know we got news on Casey. I guess either
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: today or yesterday whenever that was. Travel has made my
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: brain scrambled. But still, like you know, they have like
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: O Contra is the backup center fielder, I would guess
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: maybe Bruhan.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean if they didn't DFA Canario now, they
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: probably would have done it what week from now, months
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: from night, like like who knows whatever move they had
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: to make by the time of first pitch in Japan.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Like clearly, you know, I think this is a good
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: reminder players have like kind of windows to make their
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: mark in organizations and Canario in large part due to injuries,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: and just didn't. And I'm sure there's probably some more
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: to it. Like clearly David Ross and Craig Counsel didn't
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: really like weren't overwhelmed by the player or the skill
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: set or whatever. This guy makes total sense on like
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: you say, on the White Sox, the Marlins. I didn't
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: even think reunite him with kbuh a course field or
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: something like that, give him X number of bats, see
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: what you got, Like the Cubs were not going to
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: do that. I don't think putting like squeezing him on
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: as like the twenty sixth man and like giving him
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: like two at bats a week or you know, one
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: start every him.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: This is better for him, no doubt.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he was, like, you know, thrilled by this news.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: I've never you know, I don't don't claim to, uh
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: you know, know him all that well, but uh, anyone
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: in that position, you know, wants to play, and you
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: know it's interesting. You know, we'll learn more this year
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: about that twenty twenty one deadline. Obviously, Peco Armstrong could
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: be a star. He could also like flop this year.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I think there's you know, to me seeing Acntara will
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: see as well, like really interesting guy, like if he
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: can play center, like he really interesting, you know, body type,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: skill set, personality. That would be a huge win. As
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: he was the guy from the Anthony Rizzo trade and
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: at the moment the Bryant trade, you know, doesn't look
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: all that great. We'll see if Caleb Killian bounces back
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: this year and can impact the major league team. He
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: hasn't really yet. Obviously, Kimberl trade just did not work
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: out really for either team. I mean that's what like,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: both those guys are deafade, right, I mean between or
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: non tender whatever they did. Ye, Cody Hoyer was whacked
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: as well, and then I guess maybe Daniel Palencia will
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: be the maybe he harnesses his one hundred mile hour fastball.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: I believe he was acquired in the Andrew chief In trade.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, chaef In trade.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So you know, if PCA and the Jaguar become
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: everyday players for like twelve years combined, obviously that's an
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: amazing outcome. I think we learn We'll learn a little
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: bit this year. I'm very curious to see what they
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: do with Kevin that if he could break through or
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: if he has a monster season in Triple A, see
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: how they view that. But yeah, Canaro is as our buddy.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Jesse Rodgers from ESPN would say an internet name like
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: a prospect came up traded for a franchise, icon had
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: an interesting profile. You know, put up some good numbers.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: He had one like just great year there. I think
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: it was twenty twenty two, right before that injury. Yeah, like, wow,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: the Cubs may have an interesting piece here and just
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: just didn't happen that sometimes how the game goes.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean comparable to Nelson Vilasquez in a way, right,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: and you know, just a lot of power and like
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: maybe if he gets playing time he can he can
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: you know, impress and and be as solid everyday player.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't you know, we don't know
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: what happens there. It's also like it goes to show
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: like how difficult it is when you're trading a bunch
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: of expiring contracts. That's it's really hard to get really
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: good value and certainty with that value. Like none of
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: those guys were top one hundred prospects when they were traded.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: A lot of them turned into top one hundred prospects,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and Canario, if not for the injury, was a borderline
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: top one hundred prospect after twenty twenty two, right, So
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: like it's it's it's hard to like trades are hard
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: to evaluate, like at the time and then five years
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: later you look at it and you're like, who won
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the trade? Well, I mean you could say, like there
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: are different ways to look at it. In my opinion,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: what kind of value are you getting? Like should they
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: have traded some of these guys quicker?
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: It was hard, Like like I mentioned, with Canario was
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: hard because I think they were thinking about moving him.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: I can't remember the situation. Did did they have an
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: opening in the outfield? I can't really remember exactly what
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: it was. I think he could have played center field
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: that year, like I think you would have if you would.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Have been there was. Yeah, there was talk about maybe
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: he could play center and then obviously you know Bellinger
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: came in a kind of while he was rehabbing, if
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: I remember correctly, and then before Bellinger resigned, there was
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: an idea of, hey, maybe we draw Canario out there
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: right right right that composition, and that was part of
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: why the Giants traded him, Like as an international signing,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: he had to be onboarded to the forty man roster
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: at such an early age.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: It was such really hard.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: But out of experience, I think he may have had
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: like an injury too with the Giants that like step
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: back his timeline. So it's like really hard to carry
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: a guy like that, you know, year after year. Some
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: of those years, you know, he's not even close to
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: the majors, and here he's kind of a bubble bubble
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: guy who is not going to get major run at
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Wrigley Field this year.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: Right, yeah, okay.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: And the final thing here Patrick showed him Anaga and
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Justin Steel lined up for games in Japan. Uh. You know,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I think it was just a formality, right, which showed
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: a council was. I assume council just didn't want to
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: tell you guys because he hadn't had the conversation with
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Showda yet. That's that's how he is in general. And
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: then he must have had that and he and he
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: shared it and it sounds and Justin Steel will be
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: game two.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: Uh, that's not a surprise.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: You gotta you know that the Yamamoto Amanaga matchup will
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: be fun. Uh, that the fans deserve it. You know,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: it's good for TV, it's good for everything, and and
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: should have probably earned that opening day start in general, like,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: you know, she had a tremendous rookie season and Justin
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Steel right there up with him as far as really
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: strong performance last year when he was healthy.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: You'll love this. I didn't even slack you this, I
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: want to tell you on the podcast, but showed a
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: on Wednesday morning walks in with an A lina I
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: sweatshirt and I turned on one of our colleagues. I
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: was like, I really say a line.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And then I got a text I gotta tell
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: you did.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Okay, So and then he's been wearing like Van's shoes,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: was like, what is he like you know in the
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: SAHATIV you know, endorsement deal or like, is there like
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: a SAHATIV brand line of you know, uh showed us
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: coming to America assimilation process. Though I don't know if
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: you guys are going to go watch like March Madness together.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Oh what but one of the don't get me started
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: on the line okay, very upsetting.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: I will say one of the you know, I didn't
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: get a chance to write it, but will at some
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: point of just one of the funniest parts of like
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: watching Shoda is sort of like seeing one of the
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Japanese reporters start like kind of like laughing while Shoda's
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: answering something, or the cameraman starts giggling and then edwin
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: the interpreter is kind of trying, like biting his tongue
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: like as showed his answers coming out, and someone I
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: believe was Paul Sullivan of the Tribune had asked about
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: his history in the Tokyo Dome, like I'm assuming you
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: pitched there, have you done? And Shoda said something like yeah,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: I think get a lot of big home runs there,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: which is just like So that was kind of the
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: reaction amongst the Japanese media of them. They're like laughing
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: as they're hearing it, and it gets to us, and
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: I thought that was hilarious, Like Shoda always delivers, uh,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: just like genuinely funny, you know, very appreciative of the opportunity.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: You talked about the history of the players who came
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: before him, and how his understanding is that like there
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: are fewer kids playing baseball in Japan, so we hope
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: that this could be like a good catalyst for that.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: You know, he mentioned you, Darvish, he mentioned each eu
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Row of just some of the figures who kind of
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: help pave the way for him, and how appreciative he is.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: So you'll be there in Japan. I think it's gonna
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: be an awesome experience for you, and it's it's coming
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: up pretty quick.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It'll be fun.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: You know, it's gonna be an interesting situation for the Cubs.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: We'll see how prepared.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: They are, what they can do against you know, far
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: and away the most talented team in baseball. We'll see
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: if they end up being the best team in baseball.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: You know, I usually don't go with the obvious choice,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: but it's gonna be hard. Like when I make my
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: picks this year for the athletic I can't imagine that
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: I'm picking against the Dodgers.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: I just like it.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: That's how good. Yeah, it doesn't always feel that way
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: going into a season. This is one of those years
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: where it's like, okay, they they were clearly the best
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: team last year and now they just got significantly better.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: So and they're.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Gonna be healthier in all likelihood, so it's gonna be Yeah,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: it'll be interesting.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: You know, we'll see how good the Cubs are. It's
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: gonna be like we're getting.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Closer and closer, right, It's what do we less than
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: a month from opening day?
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Uh?
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: So you know that's it that's creeping up on us,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: like you said it's closer than we realize, so.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: We'll we'll be on top of that.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I'll be reporting out from here in Arizona over the
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: next tennis days and then I think you'll be coming
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: back soon after, and then Japan follows right after that.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. This is a
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: North Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: to rate, review and subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to the Athletic where we'll be on top of
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: all things cubs. Thanks so much for listening to everybody.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: Take care.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: The name.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: About what I.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Do. They